Method of attaching ties to a medical gown and a medical gown having ties secured in accordance with the method

ABSTRACT

A method of securing ties to a medical gown including providing a medical gown and associated ties made from a material that is compatible with ultrasonic welding, folding the ties prior to welding to provide more than one layer of tie material and welding the ties by ultrasonic welding through the more than one layer of tie material.

FIELD

There is described a method of securing ties to a medical gown and amedical gown having ties secured in accordance with the method.

BACKGROUND

Ties are used to secure medical gowns to patients and medical personnel.The most common manner of attaching the ties to the medical gowns isthrough ultrasonic welding. The American Association for MedicalInstrumentation (AAMI) has standards regarding fluid resistance ofmedical gowns. The site of the ultrasonic welds for the ties presentlyhas an unacceptable level of fluid resistance failure.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect, there is provided a method of securing ties toa medical gown. A first step involves providing a medical gown andassociated ties made from a material that is compatible with ultrasonicwelding. A second step involves folding the ties prior to welding toprovide more than one layer of tie material. A third step involveswelding the ties by ultrasonic welding through the more than one layerof tie material of the folded ties.

Investigation as to the cause of fluid leakage at the site of ultrasonicwelds for the ties concluded that the process of ultrasonic weldingfrequently perforated the material. Other technologies were consideredfor attaching the ties, such as two sided tape. However, the use of twosided tape was found to be relatively expensive and relatively slow.Attention was then focused upon how to make ultrasonic welding viable.It was determined that by folding the ties to provide more than onelayer of tie material, the perforations were eliminated. It is believedthat the additional material prevents the fabric of the gown from beingperforated. It is preferred that the ties being folded lengthwise andsecured by multiple ultrasonic welds spaced axially along the ties, or asingle elongate weld.

According to another aspect there is provided a medical gown whichincludes a gown body and associated ties made from a material that iscompatible with ultrasonic welding. The ties are folded to provide morethan one layer of tie material and then ultrasonically welded to thegown body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features will become more apparent from the followingdescription in which reference is made to the appended drawings, thedrawings are for the purpose of illustration only and are not intendedto be in any way limiting, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of a medical gown having ultrasonicallywelded secured ties.

FIG. 2 is a detailed front elevation view of the ultrasonic welding siteof the medical gown of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view, in section, of the ultrasonic weldingsite illustrated in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method of securing ties to a medical gown will now be described withreference to FIG. 1 through FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 1, the present method will be described in relation toa medical gown, generally identified by reference numeral 10, which isfabricated in accordance with the teachings of the method a gown body 12and associated ties 14 are made from a material that is compatible withultrasonic welding. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, ties 14 are folded atleast once prior to welding. It is preferred that ties 14 be foldedlengthwise, as illustrated. Ties 14 are then welded to gown body 12 by aseries of axially spaced ultra sonic welds 18 through the more than onelayer of tie material at welding site 16.

The purpose of folding is to provide additional layers of tie materialto protect gown body 12 from damage during the welding process. Oncethese teachings are understood, it will be apparent to one skilled inthe art that there are alternative ways to fold ties 14 to achieve thedesired objective. For example, ties 14 could have been folded usingeither a transverse fold or a diagonal fold. A longitudinal fold ispreferred, as it more than one transverse fold or diagonal fold would berequired in order to position ties 14 on opposed sides of gown body 12in a desired orientation. The longitudinal fold is also better able toaccommodate multiple ultrasonic welds 18 at welding site 16.

Referring to FIG. 1, resulting medical gown 10 includes gown body 12 andassociated ties 14, which are made of a fluid impervious materialcompatible with ultrasonic welding. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, ties 14are folded lengthwise at welding site 16 to provide more than one layerof tie material and protect gown body 12 from damage during the weldingprocess. Multiple ultrasonic welds 18 are spaced axially along ties 14at welding site 16, to securely fasten ties 14 to gown body 12.

While multiple, round welds 18 are shown in the depicted embodiment, itwill be understood by those skilled in the art that the number of welds18 and their size or shape will depend on the preferences of themanufacturer or user in order to attach ties 14 sufficiently to gownbody 12. For example, the same result as multiple, discrete welds may beachieved by using a single, rectangular weld.

In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in itsnon-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included,but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to anelement by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibilitythat more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearlyrequires that there be one and only one of the elements.

The following claims are to be understood to include what isspecifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptuallyequivalent, and what can be obviously substituted. Those skilled in theart will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of thedescribed embodiments can be configured without departing from the scopeof the claims. The illustrated embodiments have been set forth only asexamples and should not be taken as limiting the invention. It is to beunderstood that, within the scope of the following claims, the inventionmay be practiced other than as specifically illustrated and described.

1. A method of securing ties to a medical gown, comprising: providing amedical gown and associated ties made from a material that is compatiblewith ultrasonic welding; folding the ties prior to welding to providemore than one layer of tie material; welding the ties by ultrasonicwelding through the more than one layer of tie material.
 2. The methodof claim 1, the ties being folded lengthwise and secured by multipleultrasonic welds spaced axially along the ties.
 3. A medical gown,comprising: a gown body and associated ties made from a material that iscompatible with ultrasonic welding, the ties being folded to providemore than one layer of tie material and then ultrasonically welded tothe gown body.
 4. The method of claim 3, the ties being foldedlengthwise and secured by multiple ultrasonic welds spaced axially alongthe ties.